Empire Mills March 2017 update

Although Ally Pally preparations are at the front of everyone’s minds at the moment, we’ve started in earnest on wiring work. We might make a tweak or two to the sections and uncouplers as we go, but the real object is to ensure everything is documented and cabling is standardised so that if and when …read more.

The real world moves on

  I took a trip down to Ingatestone station this Sunday arfternoon  to update myself and the team on the referbishment work carried out – although we have to draw a line on when we close our time period  for the  layout.  We had said 2014 to 2016 but its a hard call.   The first …read more.

Point Rodding

We have been doing quite a bit of work behind the scenes in the last few weeks to make CF easier to shift and exhibit – especially as we have Ally Pally coming up in less than a fortnight.  We have a truly massive fiddle yard board at the back that has undergone a weight …read more.

Bulletin 495

The March/April 2017 edition of The Bulletin is on its way to members, featuring a range of interesting articles all written by members, including: A review of the new Dapol N gauge class 33 Creating a ‘London’ Class 26 in O gauge Controlling a conflicting route on a layout 3 book reviews And updates from around the …read more.

Empire Mills – Feb 17

We’ve had a couple of good operating evenings at Keen House already this year, and the picture above shows my Class 08 on shunting duty this week. Members will have read in our last Bulletin that Empire Mills has new trackwork and a colourful new turntable fiddleyard. Over the next month or two we will be …read more.

Award Winning “Copenhagen Fields”

We’re delighted that our 2mm finescale layout “Copenhagen Fields” won the Denis Moore Cup at the inaugural CMRA exhibition at Stevenage this weekend. Denis was president of the CMRA and scenic modelling was his forte. The cup is awarded for the best scenic modelling on a layout appearing at the CMRA Exhibition. Congratulations to Tim, Mike and the …read more.

MRC at London Model Engineering Show

We are back at Alexandra Palace with a stand at the LMEE on 20-22nd January 2017. Our theme this year is “Electric Power”, which includes a section of our new OO gauge model of Ingatestone which has 25kV overhead electricifcation. As usual our team of members will be demonstrating the creation of model locomotives, structures, track and layout elements in various scales – tramway modelling will also be represented. Below is a taster of some of the models on display.

We look forward to seeing you there on stand P, and again at the London Festival of Railway Modelling on 25/6 March.

Skills Transfer Days 2017

One of The MRC’s aims is to ensure that modelling skills are passed on to the next generation. It’s perhaps easy for experienced modellers to forget how daunting it was to take some of those key steps in developing techniques, and all too easy for the less experienced to put something in the ‘too difficult’ category.

So we’re continuing our series of ‘skills transfer’ days, to allow a small group of people to try out something they may not have tried before with more experienced modellers on hand to help them. During the day each attendee will work on the kit/parts supplied to learn the techniques and hopefully take home a working model. These courses have been running successfully since 2009, and have been popular with positive feedback. Space is limited on each course, so please book early.

The courses take place at Keen House, 4 Calshot Street, London N1 9DA, and generally start at 10am and run until 4pm with a lunch break unless stated.

We’re pleased to confirm the following dates:

First stop – Stevenage

Over the Christmas period we’ve been doing some unglamorous logistics work – tidying up the electrics and rearranging the transport boxes to make travelling to and from shows easier – ready for our 2017 outings, the first of which is at the CMRA’s first show at Stevenage Arts and Leisure Centre on 14th and 15th …read more.

London Festival of Railway Modelling 2017

The London Festival of Railway Modelling is the capital’s premier exhibition, held every March at the fabulous Alexandra Palace in North London. The next show is on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th March 2017, and we’re delighted to confirm that the following layouts, representing a wide range of scales and prototypes, have accepted our invitation to attend. There …read more.

2017 Lecture Programme

Thursday 9th March 2017 at 7.15pm The Toss of a Coin – David Maidment OBE  David has written a number of articles and given talks on railways, both in the UK and overseas, to enthusiasts and lay groups on his fascinating railway career. This began in 1960 on the Western Region of British Railways as …read more.

Bulletin 494

The January/February 2017 edition of The Bulletin is on its way to members, featuring a range of interesting articles all written by members, including: A reveiw of the Traintronics point motor, and John’s input to improving them for his large layout An update on our EM gauge layout Empire Mills – including construction of its new turntable …read more.